Moment of Meditation: Merciful (Matthew 5:7)

"Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall receive mercy."
(Matthew 5:7)

"Merciful"

The merciful will receive mercy. You reap what you sow. That's basically the idea Jesus starts here in the Sermon on the Mount and expounds in many parables throughout the rest of His ministry.

"Mercy" in the Bible is the external act of sympathy in response to the misery of another. Mercy is what caused Jesus to come down from Heaven to assume our human nature--yet without sin--so that we may be delivered from the misery of eternity in Hell. His Incarnation at the first Christmas was the beginning. He showed sympathy to everyone around Him during His earthly ministry.

Jesus' death on the Cross was the conclusion as He suffered the misery and torments of Hell in your place so that you could receive His mercy and have the slate of your sins wiped away to show as if there had never been a sin there in the first place. That's mercy. Amen.